chicken-in-a-basket n. in attributive uses, connoting unsophisticated, unfashionable, or unoriginal entertainment, especially in a remote or rustic environment; in the form chicken-in-a-basket circuit, a series of performances by an unpopular or unfashionable group or entertainer at remote, small, or undesirable locations or events. Also chicken-in-the-basket. Editorial Note: Chicken-in-a-basket circuit is similar to rubber chicken circuit and mashed potato circuit in the United States. Etymological Note: Chicken-in-a-basket is a cheap, simple dish common at cheap, simple restaurants or dinner shows. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
After our conversation about wishing well eggs, a listener from Viroqua, Wisconsin, chimes in with another name for this egg-in-toast dish: UFOs, short for Unidentified Frying Objects. This is part of a complete episode.
Related
There my be an earlier reference from TV. On “The Bob Newhart Show”, Dr. Hartley took his group to a retreat at “Ken and Mitzi’s of the Woods”. The place had a really lame floor show and the only thing they could get was creamed-chicken-in-a-basket.
There are a number of earlier uses of chicken-in-a-basket associated with lame spectacles or cheesy downmarket entertainment, but the poultry dish doesn’t show up as a lexical item—that is, it appears specifically as something you eat, not as a figurative term that lends connotations to something else.